After years of deep budget cuts, several states are poised to boost higher education funding this year, often in exchange for a promise by public colleges and universities to freeze tuition.

Iowa, Minnesota, Montana and Nebraska are among states where universities have agreed to keep their in-state tuition flat if lawmakers give them more money. Governors of California, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island support similar deals. University of Maine System trustees say they'll won't raise tuition as long as their state funding isn't cut.

Campuses in several other states, including Indiana's Purdue University and Ohio State University in Columbus, also have announced tuition freezes.

For students and public universities alike, "things are more optimistic-looking in the next 12 months compared with the last half-decade," says Daniel Hurley, spokesman for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

"As recently as two years ago, we witnessed significant state higher education funding reductions, which resulted in equally significant increases in tuition prices. This year the evidence suggests that the funding turbulence has settled down considerably," Hurley says. "Most states have provided modest funding increases and as a consequence, the rise in tuition prices at public universities will likely be lower than what we've seen during the past decade, with tuition price freezes even being put in place in a number of states."

Even in states where tuition is rising, the increases are relatively modest, Hurley says. In 2010, for example, the University of Arizona-Tucson hiked tuition and fees 20% to $8,328; trustees this year approved a 3.4% increase to $10,391. Public university trustees in Illinois and Missouri each approved a 1.7% increase for some or all of their campuses.

Reining in tuition is not universal. Since 2010, lawmakers in Colorado and Louisiana have allowed universities to increase tuition, up to 9% and 10%, respectively.

The uptick in state funding for higher education began last year, when 30 states increased spending for public colleges and universities, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. That reversed five years of cuts in every state except Wyoming and North Dakota. During that time, tuition increased by more than 15% in 40 states and more than 50% in seven states after adjusting for inflation, says the center, which focuses on issues affecting low- and moderate-income families and individuals

Historically, higher education budgets are among the first to shrink when a state economy falters and often rebound when things pick up.

But "few people believe that states will ever return to the high levels of contributions to higher education of a decade ago," says Julie Bell, director of the education group at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

State officials are tussling with universities in some cases:

• Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, requested a funding increase for the University of Wisconsin System, then changed his mind after learning the system had built up hundreds of millions of dollars in cash reserves. His proposal, approved by a key legislative committee, would cut public universities' budgets and freeze tuition for two years.

• Arizona House Speaker Andy Tobin, a Republican, tried to strip $15 million in higher education funding after the Arizona Board of Trustees approved increases ranging from 2% to 5% at the state's three public universities. The measure was passed nevertheless and Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, is expected to sign it into law. From 2008 to 2013, state spending per student in Arizona dropped by 50% and tuition increased by more than 70% after adjusting for inflation, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

• In Florida, Republican Gov. Rick Scott called for a tuition freeze across all 12 state universities, but several, including the University of Florida and Florida State University, have refused to comply, proposing tuition hikes tied to a 1.7% inflation rate.

"The recent downturn and impact on higher education was really unprecedented," says Andrew Carlson, senior policy analyst at the non-profit State Higher Education Executive Officers. "States are probably a little more leery than normal to put money back into support for higher ed."